The leading civil Right advocacy group – HUMAN RIGHTS
WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has described the growing incidence of
violent attacks and jailing of journalists by government as a demonstration of
the deteriorating state of constitutional democracy in Nigeria.
HURIWA has also expressed shock and consternation that
the National Assembly rather than live up to the expectation of Nigerians and
make laws for the good governance of the Country has turned full throttle into
a willing tool of the oppressive executive arm of government to literally
manufacture hurriedly written draconian legislations to undermine the enjoyment
by citizens of their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms including freedom of
expression and access to the Social media.
HURIWA spoke against the backdrop of the report of the
physical brutality by the Department of State Services (DSS) attached to the
vice president Professor Yemi Osibanjo on the journalist working for Vanguard
Newspaper at the state house Abuja Mr. Abayomi Adeshida and the destruction of
his working gadgets just as the Rights group has asked the United Nations;
president of the United States of America Mr. Donald Trump and the Canadian
prime minister Justin Trudeau to mount pressure on the Nigerian state to halt
the violence against political opponents and journalists immediately.
In a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade
Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss. Zainab Yusuf,
HURIWA unambiguously affirmed that there is a well-choreographed and
coordinated attacks directed against the media by government which according to
the Rights group shows the growing desperation of government officials to beat
back on critical voices so as to hide the clear failures of governance at all
levels.
“Nigeria is currently buffeted by all kinds of violence
and attacks targeting purveyors of information and persons seen by the Federal
and state government officials as independent-minded and because of the growing
intolerance of plurality of opinions, holders of political power have unleashed
brute force of state security forces to maintain the hook on power. The primary
reason for this spate of attacks on the press is the high rate of official
corruption by politically exposed persons in Nigeria.”
HURIWA also condemned the National Assembly for
completely becoming an appendage of the totalitarian executive and for playing
the slavish card of attempting to roll out a badly written legislation to gag
the social media and to jail opponents of the current government. The group
described the bill before the National Assembly to whittle down access to
social media as a mere tissue of lies and draconian decree rebaptised as legislation.
The Rights group has therefore advocated active
vigilance by the masses to frustrate the plots of just a few Nigerians wielding
temporary political power to emasculate constitutional freedoms and to try to
enslave all of us. HURIWA stated that if the populace maintains the status quo
of lassex faire, then we may as well be prepared to sing nunc dimitis to
democracy and be prepared to become slaves in a one-party dictatorship.
HURIWA recalled that a photojournalist with the Vanguard
Newspapers, attached to the Aso Rock Villa, Mr Abayomi Adeshida, was on
Thursday morning beaten up by security details of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
HURIWA recalled too that the incident took place at the
State House Banquet Hall, Abuja during the opening session of the Nigeria
Diaspora Investment Summit organized by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission
NiDCOM, chaired by Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
HURIWA citing available body of knowledge quoted the
brutalized journalist as narrating his experience to journalists and
saying that he was taking photographs of the Vice-President taking a tour of
the exhibition stands at the event, when five personnel of the Department of
State Services (DSS) suddenly pounced on him as Osinbajo was being presented a
copy of the magazine as a souvenir at a particular stand.
According to HURIWA: "Adeshida said he was not told
his supposed infraction as he was not in any way obstructing the event or doing
anything out of the ordinary before the security details started hitting him,
dragged him over the floor and damaged his professional camera, right in the
presence of the Vice-President. “I was shocked when these DSS started beating
me for no apparent reason. They tore off my Presidential Villa accreditation
tag on the shirt and dragged me on the floor while hitting me and kicking me."
“I believe they would have done much worse if not for
the intervention of the Vice-President’s Aide-de-Camp (ADC), who I noticed was
making hand movements for them to leave me alone. “I am feeling pains all over
my body and a particular severe pain on my right leg on which I don’t even know
what they hit me with”, the Adeshida before he headed for the hospital for
treatment.
HURIWA condemned this brutality and lamented that
information reaching it says that no other aides of the Vice-President made
efforts to stop the humiliation of the journalist in the presence of Osibanjo,
who may have been embarrassed by the situation just as the incident happened a
day after 35 aides of the Vice-President were bye reported sacked on the orders
of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is away on a private visit to the United
Kingdom.
HURIWA has therefore asked the victimized journalist to
head to court to seek for redress and to demand for a N10 billion damage from
the office of the Vice President.
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